Manon (1949) Directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot | VIDEO (ISO)

Synopsis :
Updated from Abbe Prevost's Manon Lescaut, this non-operatic version of the familiar tale stars Cecile Aubrey in the title role. Accused of collaborating with the Nazis during WW II, Manon Lescaut is rescued by Robert Desgrieux (Michel Auclair). Safely ensconced in Paris with Robert, Manon falls victim to the machinations of her dishonest brother Leon (Serge Reggiani). Once more Robert comes to her rescue then takes his love with him to Palestine. Director Henri-Georges Clouzot departs most radically from the Prevost original in the closing scenes, which concentrate on a group of Jewish war refugees. Obviously under the influence of American film noir, Clouzot takes great delight in concentrating on society's castaways in Manon. Hal Erickson
Title : Manon (1949)
Directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot
Duration : 110 min.
Subtitles : English, Portuguese
Audio in French
Genres : Drama, Action, Adventure, Thriller
Countries : France

Ashes and Diamonds (Popiól i diament, 1958) Directed by Andrzej Wajda | VIDEO (ISO)

Synopsis :
This is the last film in the trilogy that began Andrzej Wajda's career as a director. Preceding this wartime drama are Pokolenie (1955) and Kanal (1957). Once again, Wajda presents a strong anti-war statement, this time in the personae of two men who are given orders on the last day of World War II in Poland to murder a leading communist. The orders come from the part of the resistance that opposes the new communist regime. One of Wajda's favorite performers and a friend, Zbigniew Cybulski, plays the man who eventually pulls the trigger and kills the communist leader -- and the results are not what he expected. In 1959, Popiol I Diament won in competition at the British Academy Awards and at the Venice Film Festival. Eleanor Mannikka
Title :  Ashes and Diamonds (1958)  
Original title : Popiól i diament
Directed by Andrzej Wajda
Duration : 105 min.
Subtitles : English, Portuguese
Audio in Polish
Genres : Drama, War, Romance
Extras : Biography, Posters & more  ...
Countries : Poland

Kanal (1954) Directed by Andrzej Wajda | VIDEO (ISO)

Synopsis :
The second of Polish director Andrzej Wajda's WWII trilogy, following Pokolenie (A Generation) and preceding Popiol I diament (Ashes and Diamonds), Kanal is the most physically harrowing of the set. Based on the experiences of Jerzy Stefan Stawinski, a Polish patriot who participated in the battle for Warsaw in 1939 as an 18-year-old and in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, the action takes place in the last week of the 63-day Uprising, as the Nazis hunt down what few freedom fighters remain. A band of Poles takes to the sewers in hopes of escaping, but they become disoriented by the darkness and the fumes of the waist-deep filth. Whenever the Poles try to emerge for orientation or relief, the Germans are there to greet them with a hail of bullets. Kanal was Wajda's coming-out film; it won two prizes at the 1957 Cannes Film Festival and clicked with both European and American audiences, in spite of its grueling story and pessimistic tone. Tom Wiener
Title : Kanal (1957)  
Directed by Andrzej Wajda
Duration : 96 min.
Subtitles : English, Portuguese
Audio in Polish
Extras : Jan Nowak-Jezioranski : Messenger of Varsóvia & more ...
Genres : Drama, War, Action, Adventure
Countries : Poland
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A Generation (Pokolenie) (1954) Directed by Andrzej Wajda | VIDEO (ISO)

Synopsis :
A Generation is the first of Polish filmmaker Andrzej Wajda's "underground trilogy"-and also Wajda's first-ever feature film. Originally titled Pokolenie, the film dissects the impact that World War II had on the youth of Poland. Tadevsz Lomnicki plays an impressionable young Warsaw resident who falls in love with resistance leader Ursula Modrzinska. The passion they feel towards their cause is inextricably entwined with the intensity of their feelings towards one another. During several crucial moments, the director contrasts the "official" version of wartime events with the actual facts (many experienced first-hand by Wajda), partly as a means of explaining the peacetime disillusionment of so many young Poles. As a result, the film was subject to an overabundance of government interference when it was first released. Watch closely in the Underground scenes of A Generation and you'll spot a young Roman Polanski. Hal Erickson
Title :  A Generation (1954)  
Original title : Pokolenie
Directed by Andrzej Wajda
Duration : 84 min.
Subtitles : English, Portuguese
Audio in Polish
Bonus :
Genres :  Drama, War

Port of Shadow (Le Quai des Brumes) (1938) Directed by Marcel Carné | VIDEO (ISO)

Synopsis :
Adapted from a novel by Jacques Prevert, Port of Shadows (Quai des brumes) stars that eternal victim of society, Jean Gabin. Having deserted the French army, Gabin ducks into a back alley and meets the lovely Michelle Morgan. He becomes her champion by taking on her evil "protectors" (Michel Simon, Pierre Brasseur), but loses his last bid for freedom--and his life--in the process. Irredeemably gloomy, Port of Shadows was a primary influence in the "film noir" genre pursued by Hollywood in the 1940s. The film was the first of three collaborations between writer Jacques Prevert and director Marcel Carne, culminating in the incomparable Les Enfants du Paradis (1944). Hal Erickson
Title : Port of Shadow (1938)
Original title : Le Quai des Brumes
Directed by Marcel Carné
Duration : 91 min.
Subtitles : Englis, Portuguese, Spanish
Audio in French
Bonus : Biography od Jean Gabin, Marcel Carné, Michèle Morgan & more ...
Genres :  Drama, Romance, Crime